RePurposed Items - 2/6 - The Idea Room

Personalized Product Spiral Notebooks

Need a quick and easy project? Make some notebooks (big or little) a bit more fun. We have all seen the notebooks that you can dress up with scrapbook paper and a little bit of Mod Podge…why not reuse some cardboard from the boxes of some of you and your families favorite products? Anything will work…cereal boxes, soda can boxes, or twinkee and hostess cupcake boxes or even some of the movie sized candy boxes!

Take some spiral bound notebooks, which should be easy to find this time of year with the back to school sales going on.

Unbend one end of the wire spiral so that it is smooth and flat on the end and gently untwist it from the top of the notebook. This turned out to be pretty easy. Just be sure to firmly hold the notebook papers with your other hand so they stay lined up nicely so you can add the wire again when finished.

Remove wire completely and set aside. Take the old notebook cover and place it over your cardboard box and determine exactly what you would like your new cover to be. Trace around it with a pen or marker. Cut out the cardboard piece. Place the old cover on top of the new cutout cover and mark with your pen where to make the holes. Then take a large sewing needle and gently punch a hold through each of the marked dots.

Place your new cover over the top and hold all the papers so that they are lined up. Insert the spiral wire back into the holes and gently twist the wire so that it encompasses all the papers and works over to the other end of the notebook. Gently bend the two end pieces of wire back in.

And that is it! Such an easy 5 minute project. I think these would be a fun gift for your kids friends or for your kids themselves. It is so easy that most kids could help make them too. And who doesn’t like to make something that is unique and fun and represents something that they enjoy?

What kind of notebook would you make for yourself and/or kids?

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September 5, 2011 · Filed under: Activities, Back To School, Birthdays, Boys, Christmas Gifts, Crafts, Gifts, Girls, Kids, Re-Purposed Items, Teacher Gifts Tagged with inexpensive gifts, kids gifts, notebooks, repurposed crafts, spiral notebooks

Antiqued Acid Mirror

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I am so excited to share one of my latest home décor projects with you. I am really happy with how this one turned out. I have seen these fun “antiqued” mirrors in quite a few places on the internet recently, but saw it them when my friend Mandi from Vintage Revivals shared some that she made for a Crafting with the Stars competition. I have wanted to make one ever since. My Dad was recently going through some of his old stuff and asked me if I wanted this old mirror. Ummmm…yes please! It was perfect for what I had in mind.

I took the mirror apart by removing the backing and the frame. I set the mirror aside and took the empty frame and cleaned it up with a damp cloth. Then I spray painted the frame with some white Krylon Semi-Gloss Spray Paint. The frame needed two coats. Be sure to let the paint dry between each coat and then let dry for several hours before touching or moving your frame

Then I took the mirror outside and placed it on a thick layer of newspaper. You need to remove the layer of paint that is on the back of the mirror to get to the reflective coating on the back of the mirror (which gives the glass it’s mirror reflection). I put the stripper into a spray bottle so that I could easily spray it onto the back of the mirror.

**Important—When working with paint thinner you should always wear some protective gloves for your hands and protective eyewear! You can also find some regulations for using Paint Strippers here.

Spray the stripper so that every surface of the mirror is covered and let it sit for several minutes. Let the paint stripper do the work for you.

You will see when the paint is ready to be scraped off when the paint is all bubbled up.

Then take a putty knife or a scraper and scrape the paint off of the entire mirror. There may be a few spots on the back of the mirror that the paint does not come completely off. I was not too concerned about these areas because I wanted an antique look. I scraped the back of the mirror clean and carefully gathered up all the paint strippings and disposed of them according to the directions on the can.

I followed the directions found here from HGTV Making a Distressed Mirror if you are interested in the full process.

I wanted to put a fun patterned material behind the glass mirror. So that you could see the pattern in the areas that the mirror had been worn away by the acid. So I took this fun Cutting Edge Damask Stencil in the Anna style and made my own patterned fabric.

I bought some minky soft buttery yellow fabric and stenciled white paint directly onto it. I used this great stencil paint in white from DecoArt.

I was really happy with how it turned out. And I love the texture it adds to the mirror.

I cut the fabric so that it fit the mirror perfectly. Then I took this lovely vinyl lettering that I was given from Ten 23. I selected the saying “Be Your Own Kind Of Beautiful”. Don’t you just love that? I ordered it in a white vinyl because I wanted a very classy, fresh and subtle look to the overall finished mirror.

I carefully measured it and centered it and then with my husband’s help applied the vinyl lettering to the front of the mirror.

Then I took some clear Silicone and applied a thin layer to the inside of the mirror frame. Don’t do too much or you will have the Silicone oozing everywhere on the front of your mirror which will not be too pretty.

Gently place the mirror into the frame. Have someone help hold up the mirror so that it is still laying flat and get under the mirror and check for any silicone that may have seeped over the edges and onto the front of the mirror. Gently wipe clean with a damp cloth.

Then I attached the fabric to the back of the frame with a staple gun (I forgot to take a picture of this part). Then I screwed the back of the mirror which I had originally removed onto the frame.

Then I scuffed up the frame so that it looked a bit distressed to match the overall feel of the antiqued mirror. I used this handy dandy sanding bug from Rockler.

This has come in handy on several of my home décor and remodeling projects!

Then I hung it in my daughter’s room. This has been one of my absolute favorite projects. I just love how it turned out. It was super easy to make and fairly inexpensive. And it looks like something that would cost some big bucks if you were to buy it in a boutique. Ahhhh! I love how it turned out! What do you think?

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June 21, 2011 · Filed under: DIY Dare Blogger, Girls, Home Decor, Home Remodeling, Re-Purposed Items, Tutorials Tagged with

DIY Labeled Bathroom Jars

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Today I would love to share with you how I made these labeled bath jars.

I like to have pretty matching sets rather than big, bulky bottles cluttering my spaces…don’t you? But all the sets I have seen were really expensive. Then I saw this picture from Country Living. I had my next project!

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I looked around online for various bottles and in my local thrift store but couldn’t find anything that was pretty or in my budget. Then one day while I was shopping I had the idea to look at the various glass food jars. I was surprised at just how many styles there were but none of them were just right. I had almost given up until I turned down the last aisle and lo and behold I spied these beauties!!!

It was the perfect size and shape and there were exactly 4 bottles. The labels looked easy to remove and there were no upraised markings in the bottle…PERFECT! Now only if I drank coffee ;). No worries…I gave the coffee to my friend and saved the bottles for myself!

I removed the labels and took off the residual glue with this Goo Gone. I already had this on hand and originally bought it from Home Depot. It works like a charm. Then I thoroughly washed the bottles and then let them dry.

Then I created some labels on my Silhouette machine and cut them out in black vinyl. I also cut them out in white vinyl as well.

I took the inside of the white label and put it on the jars first. Then I took the black label and put it on top of the white label, kind of like a little puzzle. The reason I did this is that I wanted the labels to stand out really well on the bottle. I thought about just cutting out a white square of vinyl but the borders of each frame were really different and this just seemed easier. Of course you can just place the black vinyl on and not use the white vinyl.

I wanted to cover up the writing on each of the lids so I simply spray painted them white and let them dry thoroughly. Then I simply filled each jar with my favorite bath products.

I love how fresh and clean it looks. Isn’t that so much better than a bunch of big and bulky bottles?

I have made my label file available for you to download for those of you who would like to make your own labels.

*Click to download bath jar labels {in GSD format}

**If you don’t have a Silhouette Machine, you can still make these. Simply download the PSD labels and print them out. Then simply cover the tops of the label with a few layers of Mod Podge (let dry between each coat) and then cut the labels out. To apply to the bottles add a small amount of glue like E 6000 or other water proof glues.

***Click to download bath jar labels {in PSD format}